Thursday, October 23, 2008

'Crash!'. Sound familiar? That is the sound of the western world's economy falling to the hard, cold floor. The economic crisis is the spawn of capitalistic greed, and this worldwide issue may hit home to gaming as well. Unlikely, but many of our consumer needs and wants maybe be narrowed, which may have slight effects on sales of home entertainment. But don't listen to me. I failed economics.

I guess gravity will get the best of them eventually...

In more of a 'rainbow and butterfly' approach to the gaming news, many new titles are soon to be released or have already done so. Australia will be seeing Little Big Planet for the PS3 on the 7th of November, Gears of War 2 for the Xbox360 on the 11 of the 11th, World of Warcraft: The Wrath of the Lich King for PC on the 13 of November, and many more. It will be a fruitful Christmas for the industry.

We have already been joined by Fable II for the Xbox360 which will be reviewed here in a few days time. Along the new gems on the market, is Saints Row 2 for the Xbox360, Farcry 2 on PS3, Xbox360 and PC, Star Wars: Force Unleashed on nearly every platform.

Later next month, I will be visiting the iDEFeGames expo, held in the Melbourne ExhibitionBuilding from the 14th-16th of November. I will be bringing you the action and news from the show so stay tuned.

For more information regarding the iDEF eGames expo in Melbourne, visit: http://idef.com.au/

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

In the lovely innovative use of public Melbourne space, A.K.A Federation Square, I was privileged to meet an Artist who is currently working for Infinitive Interactive as an Intern through the ABC's Good Game intern award. Zac 'Greenlig' Duff is working on the Puzzle/RPG title 'Office Wars' which has been commissioned by the ABC.

Does Federation Square also remind you of some evil child's use of Lego?There has to be some sinister use for Fed Square, it just has the ' menacing corporation' feel to it.

Office Wars is a concept forged by a Good Game forum-goer was a competition that the ABC held which would allow the game concept to be taken to Infinite Interactive to be produced. At the moment Zac Duff claims that the game must reach 'only a prototype' requirements and that is all that must be submitted to the ABC. If there is much popularity within the community, Infinite Interactive may decide to take the game further and produce it for PC, XBLA and PSN.

A screenshot from the Office Wars design document.

Zac Duff has had a huge impact on the look and style of the game, the style of the characters above where designed by him. Many people have speculated on how one will defeat the games so called 'bosses', if its using physical force or mental wit.

Styled like a RPG, Office Wars is all about fast micro managemennt of the office and knowing what stat's to use. Unlike the regular RPG stats, like Strength, Stamina and Intelligence, it's replace with 'Subtlety and Ingenuity'. Zac Duff described it as 'frantic' and that the player will have to jugle request's from the boss, the phone ringing for new jobs while all timed. It's the pressure that makes it fun

Mr. Duff then stated, that the use of 'staplers' may be used in one of the boss fights. You can take that into your own interpretation while keeping in mind that the same developers have produced international hits such as 'Puzzle Quest'. Sadly I doubt that we will see that stapler be put to any 'Gears of War' styled uses.